Monday, October 20, 2014

OK. It didn't really happen that way. Or did it? Just days before the municipal election in 2010, Fort Erie Race Track employees received a letter from their union advising them that if they vote for Ann Marie Noyes for mayor; Bob Steckley in Ward 3; John Hill in Ward 4; Don Lubberts in Ward 5; and Paul Collard in Ward 6 they might lose their jobs. A similar letter was posted at town hall. The timing was suspect; there was no time for a rebuttal from the candidates. Ann Marie almost won in 2010. Five votes separated her from incumbent mayor Doug Martin. However, The Four Councillors won! And guess what? The Four voted in support of the racetrack. Every time. Well, except that one time when Don Lubberts did not like the last minute pressure put on council to cough up $500,000. to cover the lease on the race track. He voted no but it passed anyway. He was right as it turned out. The race track did not need the emergency infusion of half a million dollars as requested. The funding from the province came through. The mayor said that the funding from the province came through two minutes before the deadline. Do you really believe that? We didn't. In fact, months later the money was still in the town coffers. Then in September, the Fort Erie Live Racing Consortium asked for the money for "operating expenses." What? Don further angered the two-hatted head of the FELRC and the EDTC, Jim Thibert when Lubberts suggested that if the town purchased a parcel of land from the owners of the Fort Erie Race Track, it could be considered "bonusing." When Jim gets angry, he sues. He sued Don Lubberts for Conflict of Interest. It is still up in the air as to whether the taxpayers will pay for this lawsuit or not.

In my little nightmare scenario, the Marina I envision is one Marina Butler whose name is associated with many of the incidents regarding The Four. As former Human Resources head of the race track, she has had quite a lot of power over the employees. She was quoted in a attack flyer attributed to Kim Zanko who is running for election in Ward 3.

That flyer intimated that The Four were anti-development Of course, Marina is running in Ward 4 against John Hill who she once requested a Compliance Audit for after the 2010 election. Compliance Audits were also requested by Martha Lockwood against Don Lubberts who beat her in Ward 5 and Larry Graber against Paul Collard who beat him in Ward 6. The compliance audits cost the taxpayers well over $100,000. and no serious violations were found, just minor infractions. Back to Marina: turns out that she helped fund the Conflict of Interest lawsuit against the four councillors brought by defeated former councillor, Tim Whitfield. Still following? And now she's running against John Hill.What a tangled web. Oh, and in case you may have forgotten, here is the flyer that was sent out in early 2011 by a group headed by Kim Zanko who is now running for council in Ward 3.

NICE ONE, EH?

Oh, did they mention a lawsuit? That was after the Molinaro Project was passed. The councillors were not anti-development but why let a good slogan be ruined by the truth? Many developments have been approved, started and finished in the past four years and none were voted down by council. Just look at the words used in this hit piece. This is just one example of the treatment The Four Councillors have received since they were elected - in spite of the letter.